1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical (including dental, veterinary, etc.) closure and wound fluid management devices, and in particular to a flexible medical closure screen for closing tissue separations, such as incisions and wounds, which closure member is optionally bioabsorbable. The closure member can be assembled with different components chosen for their functional and material compatibility characteristics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the medical field, which is broadly defined to include dentistry, veterinary medicine, etc., cutaneous incisions are commonly performed in surgery to provide access to underlying tissue, organs, joints, skeletal structure, etc. Incision and closure techniques are an important part of surgery in general. They tend to occupy surgical teams and other resources for significant portions of many surgical procedures.
Surgeons generally strive to minimize the traumatic and scarring effects of surgery on their patients by both minimizing the incisions, and by employing a variety of closure techniques which tend to reduce postoperative swelling, bleeding, seroma, infection and other undesirable postoperative side effects. For example, the fields of endoscopic-assisted surgery, microscopic surgery, and computer-enhanced instrumentation (e.g., the DaVinci System available from Intuitive Surgical, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif.) are generally concerned with minimally invasive surgery (“MIS”) procedures and techniques, which have proven to be increasingly popular. Such popularity is at least partly due not only to the minimally-sized scars left by such techniques, but also to the minimal trauma to the fascia and muscle layers and the correspondingly faster recoveries this allows. However, surgeons must balance such considerations with providing adequate access to perform various surgical procedures. A typical surgical procedure involves a cutting or dissecting phase and a closing phase. In recent years, considerable progress has been made in minimizing surgical cutting, dissecting and shaping. Surgical closing techniques involve sutures, clips, staples and adhesives. However, suturing can be time-consuming and tedious. Moreover, the tissue structures to be joined may not be amenable to other closure techniques. MIS often restricts access to the separated tissue structures, thus making it more difficult to approximate and close same.
In contrast to MIS, some surgical procedures, by their nature, must include long incisions. Examples include cutaneous excisional procedures such as “lifts” and reduction procedures, flap procedures for closure of defects, and many bariatric procedures. Suturing in these extensive defects can be time-consuming and tedious.
The “first intention” (primary intention healing) in surgery is to “close” the incision. For load-bearing tissues, such as bone, fascia, and muscle, this requires substantial material, be it suture material, staples, or plates and screws. For the wound to be “closed,” the epithelial layer must seal. To accomplish this, the “load bearing” areas of the cutaneous and subcutaneous layers (i.e., the deep dermal elastic layer and the superficial fascia or fibrous layers of the adipose tissue, respectively) must also at least be held in approximation. Important considerations include controlling infection and bleeding, reducing scarring, eliminating the potential of hematoma, seroma, and “dead-space” formation and managing pain. Dead space problems are more apt to occur in the subcutaneous closure. Relatively shallow incisions can normally be closed with surface-applied closure techniques, such as sutures, staples, glues, and adhesive tape strips. However, deeper incisions may well require not only skin surface closure, but also time-consuming placement of multiple layers of sutures in the load-bearing planes. Absorbable sutures are commonly used for this purpose and comprise an important class of surgical sutures. Depending on various factors, absorbable sutures typically dissolve over a period of a few days to a few months. Commercially available examples include Monocryl® monofilament absorbable synthetic sutures comprising a poliglecaprone and PDS® (polydrioxanone) and Vicryl® (polyglactin) sutures, all available from Ethicon, Inc., of Somerville, N.J.
Surgical mesh is commonly used to span or reinforce load-bearing planes or defects in them. When coupled with sutures or fasteners, surgical mesh represents another important class of surgical closure devices. Applications include reconstruction, hernia repair, and organ repair. In such procedures, surgical mesh fabric prostheses are inserted into patients through either open surgery or endoscopic (MIS) procedures. Knitted surgical mesh for hernia repair is disclosed in the Agarwal et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,316, which is assigned to Ethicon, Inc. Another Ethicon, Inc. patent, Duncan U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,202, discloses mesh tissue fasteners including various fastening members with spaced-apart legs for passing through tissue portions. Another closure procedure involves the placement of pins or rods through skin edge or bone followed by the placement of an external clamp or fixator device spanning the wound and frequently incorporating a worm-screw apparatus capable of progressive tightening over time to effect closure, stabilization or distraction.
Fluid management represents another important aspect of both open and minimally invasive surgery. Postoperative fluid drainage can be accomplished with various combinations of tubes, sponges, and porous materials adapted for gathering and draining bodily fluids. The prior art includes technologies and methodologies for assisting drainage. For example, the Zamierowski U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,969,880; No. 5,100,396; No. 5,261,893; No. 5,527,293; and No. 6,071,267 disclose the use of pressure gradients, i.e., vacuum and positive pressure, to assist with fluid drainage from wounds including surgical incision sites. Such pressure gradients can be established by applying porous foam material either internally or externally to a wound, covering same with a permeable, semi-permeable, or impervious membrane, and connecting a suction vacuum source thereto. Fluid drawn from the patient is collected for disposal. Such fluid control methodologies have been shown to achieve significant improvements in patient healing. Another aspect of fluid management, postoperative and otherwise, relates to the application of fluids to wound sites for purposes of irrigation, infection control, pain control, growth factor application, etc. Wound drainage devices are also used to achieve fixation and immobility of the tissues, thus aiding healing and closure. This can be accomplished by both internal closed wound drainage and external vacuum devices. Fixation of tissues in apposition can also be achieved by bolus tie-over dressings (Stent dressings), taping, strapping and (contact) casting.
Heretofore, there has not been available a flexible medical closure screen and method with the advantages and features of the present invention, including the combination of same with negative pressure wound therapy (“NPWT”).